These activities support a variety of individual, paired and group work and can be chosen and adapted to suit the needs of the students involved.
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Organise students into small groups and ask them to discuss the following:
Now ask each group to prepare a brief guide to the internet for teenagers. They should list the sites they find most interesting, give the URL, explain the focus and content of each site and indicate the kind of functionality each site offers. (That is, what functions does the site offer? For example, is there a search facility? Can you access moving images? Can you put up text, photos or moving images? Can you contact other people, perhaps in real time?)
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The video clips may contain a few seconds of extra material at the beginning and end, so we have included opening and closing descriptions to help identify the intended scene.
TV needs teens
Explain why it is so important for television companies to attract young viewers.
Do you understand the difference between the various channels and how they are funded?
What is the television licence fee for? Do you know how much it is? What do you think about it? Should it be used to fund just the BBC or should other channels get a share? When you are adult and independant will you be happy to pay for it?
What do you think about channels being funded through advertising revenue?
Are you aware of any other sources of revenue for the commercial channels? Can you think of any other ways in which channels do or could raise revenue?
TV takes second place
Why do broadcasters employ research companies?
Youth conspiracy
Clip: 14:45 – 16:44
How does the company 'Youth Conspiracy' go about getting results? What were some of the findings from the focus group featured? Do you agree that young people want to be treated as individuals? If that is the case, how can we explain the fact that they so readily follow trends? What do you think about young people being seen by broadcasters, advertisers and businesses as a source of income?
E4 'Skins' campaign
This campaign was particularly popular with young people. Discuss the various components of the campaign. How did they try to get people involved? Do you think this kind of approach works? Would you like to see more opportunities for involvement in programmes in the future?
Advertising
Advertisers generally believe young people are more susceptible to advertisements. Do you agree?
List the makes of five cars and five different toiletry or cosmetic brands you know of. How do you know about these brands? Are advertisements a good thing? Do you think there should be controls on advertising? How does advertising on the internet differ from advertising on TV?
The future
TV companies spend a great deal of money carrying out research into viewers' habits, and use both in-house researchers and outside companies to help them predict future trends.
List some of the technological changes you are aware of that have taken place over the last few years. Now consider what changes you think will take place over the next decade. These could include changes in content or functionality. What would you like to see happening?
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